Sometimes, at least for some of us, golf is important... Especially if it's a challenge against the Swedes.
Last Friday we played the StoraEnso Cup, and this time I am pleased to announce that FCCJ won!
But even more important than our victory was the excellent, friendly spirit in which the competition was played in, under sunny skies at a beautiful and challenging course. A true evidence of the good cooperation between FCCJ and SCCJ and their members!

Report from Finland-Sweden Golf Challenge

FCCJ team "seniors" with the Cup

The second Finland-Sweden Golf Challenge - StoraEnso Cup was played on Friday 11 October at the Ibaraki Golf Club. After having to accept defeat at the first challenge in April, FCCJ now took a sweet revenge and won the cup. 44 players participated in the competition, 17 from FCCJ, 27 from SCCJ.
The winner of the individual competition was Alan Heggie of SCCJ with 40 points. He won the Finnair Business Class ticket to Scandinavia, and also the SCCJ Cup. Best FCCJ player was Atsushi Yamazaki (StoraEnso Japan), also with 40 points (but higher handicap) who came second in the overall results. FCCJ President Timo Varhama, who used this occassion to play the best round of his life, was third with 39 Stableford points.
Our thanks goes to all the players which showed such a nice attitude even if the very bad traffic in the morning caused some "mild chaos" before the start, and to all who donated fine prizes, most notably Finnair and Wilson Japan !
For more about the competition, click link at right.

This is a last reminder of our October luncheon meeting were we have a guest speaker from Finland, Professor Timo Airaksinen, Chairman of the Japan Guild in Helsinki (Japani-Kilta), and the
theme of his presentation is: "Finnish Perspectives on Japan: An Evolving Picture"
Luncheon details:

Date & Time:

Wednesday 23 October, 12:00-14:00

Place:

Capitol Tokyu Hotel, Chikuen Room (B2F)

Cost:

7,000 yen at the door

Registration:

by Monday 21 October

If you plan to participate but have not registered yet (dead-line Monday 21 October), please click link at right.

The preparations for the October issue of our printed newsletter, FCCJ NEWS, are in its final stages. This will include a comprehensive report about the Embassy, meeting and golf competition reports, and much more.
Or, if you have news from your company (e.g. changes in contact information, new staff, big deals, etc.) that you would like to convey to our readers, please drop me a line. Photos are also welcome!

The Consequences of Recent Balance Sheet Scandals:
Time to Think and Time to Act - Everywhere!

Speaker: Kurt F. Viermetz,
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank
Kurz F. Viermetz has since early on in his career divided his activities between the United States and Germany. Former Vice Chairman of J. P. Morgan & Co., Inc., he presently serves as Committee Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and as Committee Member of the Federal Reserve Board. Simultaneously, he is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank, Germany's second largest and Europe's third largest banking group. From his vantage point, Mr. Viermetz will give his assessment on the recent corporate scandals in the US and their consequences for global accounting standards.

Finnair is buying two Airbus A319 aircraft, which enter service in spring 2003. The aircraft were manufactured in 2000 and formerly belonged to the now bankrupt Belgian Sabena.
Thanks to Finnair's strong cash flow, the new aircraft will be funded in cash.

In addition to the two A319s being purchased, Finnair's A320 family
fleet will grow by five new leased aircraft in 2003. By the end of
next year, the Finnair fleet will have 24 Airbus aircraft of different
sizes with seating capacity varying between 126-182.

Thanks to the expedited fleet renewal, eight DC-9-51s can be retired
as soon as the end of October 2003, which in turn increases the
environmental friendliness of Finnair's aircraft fleet significantly.

OK, now what..?
The world's funniest joke has been revealed after a year-long search by British scientists. Judge by yourself if they made a good choice....
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy takes out his phone and calls the emergency services.
He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"
Thanks Heikki (guess which...there are 6 Heikkis on my list) for this contribution!

Finally a couple of more reminders:
The FCIG Business Confidence Survey is running. I have sent out instructions to our foreign affiliated members. I cannot give the URL here (to avoid false submissions), but if you would like to participate, mail me.
The results well be presented at a Joint Chambers Luncheon on 13 November. More about that in my next issue!

We are now collecting donations for the Scandinavian Christmas Party. The donations are very important to make the party successful. We have already received donations from more than 10 FCCJ companies, my BIG thanks to them
But more is appreciated, and as we beat the SCCJ in golf, we do not want to be much worse than them in the amount of donations. To use golf matchplay language, we are now three down with four to play..;-), so let's fight.
If you wish to donate (cash or goods), please mail me for instructions!
Invitations for the party (Friday 13 December) will be sent out early November.

ABOUT THIS BULLETIN
This bulletin is published by the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (FCCJ) and distributed to over 400 recipients among its members and related organizations.
FCCJ was established in April 1999 to promote trade and economic exchange between Japan and Finland and has today 71 corporate members.